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Baby Formula
Baby formula is a product that allows babies to receive some of the nutrients of breast milk without a physical lactating parent or guardian necessary. The product has historically been weaponized by corporations to both dominate an otherwise non-existent market and to maximise the labour output of working class women. Baby formula represents a product with huge promise for long-term customers, because many mothers stop lactating after a long period of using formula, and barring the potential for relactation they become dependent on the formula for their child, particularly in third-world countries. Nestlé |BusinessInsider://Every Parent Should Know The Scandalous History Of Infant Formula> :"New York City’s campaign against infant formula inspired us to look into the dubious history of this product.Outrage started in the 1970s, when Nestle was accused of getting third world mothers hooked on formula, which is less healthy and more expensive than breast milk." :"The New Internationalist published an exposé on Nestlé's marketing practices in 1973, 'Babies Mean Business,' which described how the company got Third World mothers hooked on baby formula. :But it was 'The Baby Killer,' a booklet published by London's War On Want organisation in 1974, that really blew the lid off the baby formula industry." :"Nevermind that these women lived in squalor and struggling to survive. :In poverty-stricken cities in Asia, Africa and Latin America, 'babies are dying because their mothers bottle feed them with Western-style infant milk,' alleged War on Want. :Nestlé accomplished this in three ways, said New Internationalist: * Creating a need where none existed. * Convincing consumers the products were indispensable. * Linking products with the most desirable and unattainable concepts--then giving a sample." :"'At the same time, the benefits of breastfeeding were being brought to light,' Paige Harrigan a senior nutrition advisor with Save the Children, told Business Insider. :Vitamin A prevents blindness and lowers a child's risk of death from common diseases, while zinc might stave off diarrhoea, according to the organisation's State of the World Report. Six months of exclusive breastfeeding are said to increase a child's chance of survival by six times." :"Here, one mother recounts a Nestlé 'milk nurse's' sales pitch: :'The nurse began by saying ... breastfeeding was best. She then went on detail the supplementary foods that the breastfed baby would need ... The nurse was implying that it was possible to start with a proprietary baby milk from birth, which would avoid these unnecessary problems.'" :"Formulas had to be mixed with water, but Third World mothers didn't understand that overdilluting it--especially with contaminated water--could 'prevent a child from absorbing the nutrients in food and lead to malnutrition,' said War on Want." :"'The results can be seen in the clinics and hospitals, the slums and graveyards of the Third World,' said War on Want. 'Children whose bodies have wasted away until all that is left is a big head on top of the shriveled body of an old man.' :In the Times, United States Agency for International Development official, Dr. Stephen Joseph, blamed reliance on baby formula for a million infant deaths every year through malnutrition and diarrheal diseases. :It also hindered infant growth in general, said War on Want. Citing 'complex links emerging between breast feeding and emotional and physical development,' the group said breastfed children walked 'significantly better than bottle-fed' kids, and were more emotionally advanced." :"'The results can be seen in the clinics and hospitals, the slums and graveyards of the Third World,' said War on Want. 'Children whose bodies have wasted away until all that is left is a big head on top of the shriveled body of an old man.' :In the Times, United States Agency for International Development official, Dr. Stephen Joseph, blamed reliance on baby formula for a million infant deaths every year through malnutrition and diarrheal diseases. :It also hindered infant growth in general, said War on Want. Citing 'complex links emerging between breast feeding and emotional and physical development,' the group said breastfed children walked 'significantly better than bottle-fed' kids, and were more emotionally advanced." :"In 1978, Senator Edward Kennedy held a series of U.S. Senate Hearings on the industry's unethical marketing practices. International meetings with the World Health organisation, Unicef and The International Baby Food Action Network followed. :By 1981, the 34th World Health Assemblyhad adopted Resolution WHA34.22, which includes the International Code of Marketing Breast-Milk Substitutes." :"According to Baby Milk Action, Emma Thompson famously called for a boycott of the Perrier Comedy Award in 2001 since the beverage is owned by Nestlé. The following year, the Tap Water Awards were established." 2008 Chinese Milk Scandal Chinese manufacturers of Nestlé products have also been caught in scandals. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal :"The 2008 Chinese milk scandal was a food safety incident in China. The scandal involved milk and infant formula along with other food materials and components being adulterated with melamine. A Fonterra director had given San Lu management a document detailing the European Union's permitted levels of melamine, but Fonterra chief executive Andrew Ferrier has stated that at no time did Fonterra say small amounts of melamine were acceptable.1 :Of an estimated 300,000 victims in China,2 six babies died from kidney stones and other kidney damage and an estimated 54,000 babies were hospitalized.34 The chemical gives the appearance of higher protein content when added to milk, leading to protein deficiency in the formula. In a separate incident four years prior, watered-down milk had resulted in 12 infant deaths from malnutrition.5 :The scandal broke on 16 July 2008, after sixteen babies in Gansu Province were diagnosed with kidney stones.1 The babies were fed infant formula produced by Shijiazhuang-based Sanlu Group. After the initial focus on Sanlu—market leader in the budget segment—government inspections revealed the problem existed to a lesser degree in products from 21 other companies, including an Arla Foods-Mengniu joint venture company known as Arla Mengniu, Yili, and Yashili.6 :The issue raised concerns about food safety and political corruption in China, and damaged the reputation of China's food exports. At least 11 countries stopped all imports of Chinese dairy products. :A number of criminal prosecutions were conducted by the Chinese government. Two people were executed, one given a suspended death penalty, three people receiving life imprisonment, two receiving 15-year jail terms,7 and seven local government officials, as well as the Director of the Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), being fired or forced to resign.8 :The World Health Organization referred to the incident as one of the largest food safety events it has had to deal with in recent years, and that the crisis of confidence among Chinese consumers would be hard to overcome. A spokesman said the scale of the problem proved it was "clearly not an isolated accident, but a large-scale intentional activity to deceive consumers for simple, basic, short-term profits."9 :In late October 2008, similar adulteration with melamine was discovered in eggs and possibly other food. The source was traced to melamine being added to animal feed, despite a ban imposed in June 2007 following the scandal over pet food ingredients exported to the United States.10 :In 2012, Jiang Weisuo, a 44-year-old general manager of a dairy products plant in Shanxi province, was rumoured to have been murdered in Xi'an city. It was Weisuo who had first alerted authorities to the scandal. According to the Xi'an Evening News, Jiang died in hospital on 12 November from knife wounds inflicted by his wife, Yang Ping, but the purported murder by his wife was subsequently reported to be incorrect.11"Category:Conspiracy Category:Capitalism